JP 2012-153336A (reference 1) discloses an outer sliding sunroof as a roof apparatus in the related art. In this roof apparatus, during the opening of a movable panel, driving shoes move toward the rear of a vehicle along guide rails such that the movable panel transitions from a fully closed state to a tilted up state. When the driving shoes move further toward the rear of the vehicle, the movable panel transitions from the tilted up state to a fully open state.
In contrast, during the closing of the movable panel, the driving shoes move toward the front of the vehicle along the guide rails such that the movable panel transitions from the fully open state to the tilted up state (the initial state into which the movable panel is tilted upwards and enters from the fully closed state). When the driving shoes move further toward the front of the vehicle, the movable panel transitions from the tilted up state to the fully closed state.
Reference 1 suggests a proposal to increase support rigidity for the movable panel while preventing an increase in the dimension of the guide rails in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle by allowing a rear link (a second support bracket) supporting a functional bracket to move to the midpoint of a movement path along with the functional bracket (a first support bracket) supporting the movable panel during the opening of the movable panel.
In the roof apparatus disclosed in Reference 1, the amount of movement of the driving shoes during a transition from the fully closed state to the fully open state is equal to the amount of movement during a transition from the fully closed state to the tilted up state plus the amount of movement during a transition from the tilted up state to the fully open state. That is, the driving shoes are required to move in the same direction within a limited range of length of the guide rails during a tilt operation and an opening and closing operation of the movable panel. For this reason, when the driving shoes move an increased distance during a transition from the fully closed state to the tilted up state, the driving shoes move a smaller distance during a transition to the fully open state from the titled up state, that is, it is difficult to ensure a required opening area of the movable panel.